Toy house.



W. PENTE.

TOY HOUSE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7. 1915.

Patented Apr. 16,1918.

3 SHEETS SHEET 2 l'nvcmiof WiZZmm P6 W. PENTE.

TOY HOUSE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7.191s.

1,263,282, Patented Apr. 16, 1.918.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

1 The walls of the store on the outside are warm/ Esme; emitter-e0, iLrinoIs dTOY I-IOUSEP Specification of Letters-Patent." r me Ar i To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, l VILIjiA -PENTE, a citizen of the United States, residingat Chicago, inthecounty of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain. new and useful Improvement in Toy 'Houses, of

which the following is a full,'clear, concise,

and exact description, reference being had to'the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

Although the inventiondeals with a toy, the basis of the invention is a scheme ofadvertising, and the toy'house is nierelyga v,e-'

.hicle for conveying the idea and for rendering it workable.

7 According to my lnventlon, advertising matter which ordinarily could not be con veyed to nor understoodby the child, is rendered particularly valuable and forceful.

not only to the child-but .to the. ,elders 'as well... J- I- provide a toy house, orgplay house, which may take the form of a storefin the particular embodiment whichl am illustrating I choose toemploy a grocery store.

HlithOgraphed to represent store Windows with glass in front and with articles of mer- .ChELIIdlSBT displayed therein. The representation is made as tasteful and decorative as possible, with an eye notonly to making the vertise: w

back of the same are providedlimages of' seen at the grocery ordelicatessen shop. The interior of-the house is provided with lithographed representations of various ar sameappear artistic, but with a view to forming an accurate and. pleasing vehicle for conveying advertising-matter. The va- L rious articles in the windowsiare so labeled and placed as to givethe appearance of the genuine articles which they are to ad-' To the child this is strikingly'attractive, as it gives him a, store front that appears to contain the: very articles which can be ticles just as they appear'in the package,.or asthepackages-themselves appear. A num ber of shelves are provided, and on the wall articlesawhich' appear, tobethe articles themselves. The intention, however, is that the child shall obtain the packagezwhich the, lithographed picture represents, and

place it upon the shelf in front of the picture. This causes the child to ask its elders eforzthepackages or articles which are rep resented, and thus advertising'of a very that time obtained. The child asks fora package of: aparticular kind of goods in order to fill its shelf with goods.

shall now describe in detail, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, one embodiment in which my invention may appear. 1 7

In the drawings,

Figure l is: a front elevation of 'a structure embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a elevation viewed from the left of Fig. 1;

Fig. .3 is a perspective f of thejstruc- .ture shownin Figs. 1 and 2;

-Fig. it is a fragmentarydetail showing. the interior of the structure;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentaryview of opposite walls of the structure showi n -e and the silhouette mechanism '5. a

Fig. 6 is a horizontal cross-sectiontaken at the level ofthe counter shown in Fig. 5;

, .1Fig. 7 is afragmentary detail view show ing themanner in which the sidewalls of the structure are secured. together;

Fig. Sis an elevational viewof thesaine r structure p Fig. 9 ,is an'interior view .of the left-hand wall of. Fig. -1. This view .is taken on the -line'9 r9; of Fig. 10; and,"

,Fig. 10 is a. horizontal above the level of the shelves on the interiora ot-thehouse.

cross-section taken J The structure shown 1 in the figures consistsessentiallyof front and rear walls' l and 2,.respec'tively, and side walls 3 and 4', and a roof comprising two parts 5 and 6.

The front wall 1 is provided with adoor The side inthechannels of the frame-finernbers 8 and 9. The frame-members 8 and 9am secured together at the top ,and bottom by suitable rail-members l1 and l2, which are also grooved to receive the edgesof the lithowood,.paper-board brother material. The top railllinay be of greater width, if desired, so as to providesuitable means for engaging ,the roof members 5 ,6 to secure the roof and the walls together.; The rear I graphed board ,,10,,which may be of'thin.

wall 2 is constructed in amanner. similar to I the front wall, with the side frame-members 8, a central frame-member 13, and top and bottom rails 11 and 12, respectively.

The sidewalls v3 and 4c are made up in a similar manner.

The side wall 3 is provided with-an open-V ing 14, which serves both as a window for admitting light and as a delivery wlndow. A roller curtain 15 is mounted at the top of the window; this curtain is preferably marked to represent an awning and may be extended at an angle and propped outwardly as shown in the dotted lines in prongs 20 of the angle-member 18 will fit into said sockets and hold the sides in proper position. 7

The side wall 3 isprovided upon the interior thereof, adjacent the opening l t, with a' shelf or counter 21, which may besecured in any suitable manner to the wall so as to afford a suitable counter over which the proprietor-of the toy grocery maytransact business with hislcust'omers. The; counter 21 is slotted, as shown at 22, in order to provide a uitable mounting for cutouts 23, the shadows or silhouettes of which may be cast upon a thin, transparent curtain 2a, mounted on a spring-roller 25 upon the inside of the wall 3. A shelf 26 may be mounted upon the opposite wall 4 so as toprovide a suitable support for a projecting lantern or lamp 27 Upon the v such as 28, 29, 30'and 31, are provided, so

that the proprietor can place thereupon his stock of goods. .Upon thewall back of the shelves are pictured articles or packages of goods which it is desired to advertise (see Fig. at These images, such as 30, 31, 32 and 33, may be photolithographed uponthe walls or presented in any other suitable manner. front of the pictures of the articles, so that the child may mount the articles themselves in front of the pictorial representations, the article covering and obscuring the picture.

, These pictures furnish powerful suggestions, and the child will insist upon its elders securing the articles corresponding to the plctures, so that 1t may obtain the empty cartons for'placing upon the shelves.

The roof-members 5 and 6 are provided with notches, as shown at 34:, which slip convenient arrangement, said members ton, thechild will insist upon the elder setect by Letters Patent of the United States interior of the house shelves, '1s

Proper shelf room is provided in' over rail-members 11, thereby holding the roof and the walls securely together. The vmembers 5 and 6 may be hinged together, as by means of flexible tape or other consisting preferably of paper-board, thin wooden board, or-the like.

It will now be apparent that I have pro vided a structure of verygreat utility presenting advertising .matter. in a very forcible manner tothe consumer. The manufacturing company whichdesires to hare its product advertised pays for a given amount of space and the toy house isput out by the advertising manager with a certain number ofiprodncts advertised. The toy house is put in the handsof theichild, who begins collectingxthe' cartons or empty 7 packages of the articlesavhich are advertised, and places the .same upon the;shelf in'front of the pictorial representationsof the articles. Ifathe lchildsu eldersdo. not regularly purchase one ofthe articles so that the child may obtain apackageiorcarcuring that particular.commodity, so that it may employlthe carton.or even the ar t'icle itselfin itsv toy house.

lVhile I am aware that it 1s customary to label shelves for the reception of articles, I

wish it to be understood that the idea of provldlng-images backof' a. position 011a shelf, or the like, which images are adapted to be obscured or obliteratedby placing. the original article upon'the space designated,

1 is entirely new in thisconnection...

WVhile I have shown oneparticular embodiment of my invention, I do. notintend. to .be limited to theprecise :details shown, but intend to employ. such modifications and equivalents as will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. i a

lVhat I claimas newv and desire t 5. '1 0-.

1. In a dev ce of the class described,a wall havlng thereupon a fullsizedfacsimile representation: or picture of an article of commerce and means for supporting directly in front of said picture the article there pic tured, said article bemg adapted when brought in register with the picture .to obscure the picture. 1 1. I l

2. A structure for advertising purposes comprising a wall having a plurality. of objects pictured thereupon, a sh elf projecting from said wall and adapted -to-contain the objects pictured onthe wall, such articles. or objects being adapted to be placed upon the shelf so as to obscure the corresponding picture. 3. A structure for the purpose-described comprising a frame, panels in said frame for forming a closed structure, said'panels having a plurality of articles or objects pictured thereupon, a shelf secured to said a that the same are obscured by the article being placed in front of them.

4. In a structure of the class described, a plurality of walls, a roof having notches for embracing the outer corners of two of saidwalls, and means independent of the roof for securing said two Walls to two other walls to form a complete inclosure.

5. In a structure of the class described, a

plurality of substantially rectangular walls, a pair of said Walls having gables of less 7 Width than the Walls, a roof comprising two portions connected together and each having notches forengaging the outer top corners of the end walls adjacent the gables, and angle-braces in the corners between walls for holding the walls together and for forming a complete inclosure.

6. In combination, a plurality of walls comprising wooden frames and paper panels, a door in one of said walls, a window in another of said walls, a shelf on one of said walls, said shelf being secured to'one of said frames, one of said paper panels" having pictorial representationslof objects thereupon back of said shelf, said pictures beingadapted to be completely obscured by placing the article itself upon said shelf in register with the picture.

In witness whereof,*I hereunto subscribe my name this 1st day of June, A. D. 1915.

WILLIAM PENTE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner'of Patents,

' Washington, D. C. 

